Non-Stop Car Alarm

goodprospect

It sounds like the '80s, and we can't take it. A 4-door gray or dark bluish car in front of 219 Prospect Place has had a car alarm going off every few minutes since about 5PM yesterday....all through the night, keeping my family up. Repeated calls to the 77th precinct and, at their urging, to 911, did not appear to result in their running the plate number and contacting the car's owner.

Anyone else irked?

Any suggestions?

We can't deal with another night like this!

pragmaticguy

Well, eventually the battery will run down and the alarm will die. If nothing happens soon, that may be your only hope.

whynot_31

In addition to trying the authorities and/or waiting the battery to die, I've seen people leave notes on the car telling them to fix the alarm.

Another thing I've seen is people leave large bricks, rocks or nails harmlessly on the hood of cars. Then I've seen different people use the bricks, rocks and nails harmlessly left on the car to actually damage the car.

Ah, New York. While the battery might have to die before the alarm stops, the city's residents sometimes find a way to make themselves feel better in the interim.

onandon

I can't help...but I can commiserate. That happened to us last year (and we had an infant - so the lack of sleep was already an issue). 911 said they couldn't help because it was a car alarm and sent us to 311. 311 said they couldn't help because only 911 deals with alarms. We called so many times that finally they said they would send a patrol car over, but they never showed up. We left notes on the window of the car. And we just so happened to notice when the owner finally did show up and just about got ourselves killed in a fist fight in front of our building over it.

Car alarms are totally useless and should be banned as noise pollution.

boygabriel

Car alarms are totally useless and should be banned as noise pollution.

Completely agree. At best they should go off for about 10 seconds, and then stop.

bkchickie

Love Wi-Fi's idea. Back in the day I live in a neighborhood where passing trains would often set off car alarms if the alarms were too sensitive. I remember one of my neighbor's notes on another's car: "Fix your alarm today or I will do it tomorrow." Problem solved.

Early Saturday morning on Butler Place a car's horn shorted out. Longest 10 minutes of my life waiting for that battery to die. Then it rebounded a little bit and the horn came back to life. Rinse and repeat.

armchair_warrior

back in the day my dad brought his first car and the dealer put in this shitty car alarm, first thing i did was to kill it lol. i told him alarms are useless.

xlizellx

When I was in high school, a squirrel chewed threw the wires under my car that affected my horn. One night, around 3am, a non-stop hooooooooooonk was heard -- and of course I didn't assume it was me. I was storming around upset for a good 30 minutes before going outside....to find it was my car. Yikes.

I would leave a note -- people may not know it's their car causing the noise.

vidro3

yeah, there is a white subaru that parks around my house and the alarm goes off constantly. at least it only lasts 2-3 minutes or so but its fraking annoying.

i have a note written to put on the car next time i notice it.

goodprospect

Well, after 16 hours of calling the 77th precinct - and at their urging, 911 -- the police finally showed up. As officers sat in their patrol car next to the alarm-blaring car -- literally eating donuts and just relaxing -- I asked the officer if they had looked up the plate and contacted the owner. "We'll take care of the alarm," she said. When I asked her how, she just repeated the evasive "we'll take care of the alarm" phrase three more times. The alarm kept going off. After another couple of hours, it stopped. Awhile later the young guy whose car it was came by, to my house and to our neighbors, to apologize. He lives on Vanderbilt and hadn't heard it going off. I really appreciated his apology......just wanted to let neighbors know how it ended.